Tech bills of the week: Anti-AI moratorium efforts; Supporting small AI businesses; and more
A coalition of House Democrats put forth legislation that counteracts the AI moratorium proposed by GOP lawmakers following the release of President Donald Trump’s new National AI Policy Framework that seeks to further state preemption policy.
Introduced on Friday by Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and April McClain Delaney, D-Md., the Guaranteeing and Upholding Americans’ Right to Decide Responsible AI Laws and Standards Act explicitly prohibits any federal preemptive action on state-level AI laws.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, filed companion legislation in the upper chamber.
“Embracing the amazing possibilities of AI can’t come at the cost of leaving Americans vulnerable to its profound risks, which is exactly what President Trump and Republicans are trying to do,” Schatz said. “Preventing states from enacting common-sense regulation that protects people from the very real harms of AI is dangerous. Congress has a responsibility to get this technology right, but states must be allowed to act in the public interest in the meantime.”
Equalizing the AI company playing field
Reps. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., and Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., introduced the Small AI Innovators Empowerment Act on Tuesday. The bill looks to democratize the industry landscape by launching new federal efforts to support smaller AI businesses in a competitive developer industry.
The bill tasks the Department of Commerce, along with its subagencies — the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Small Business Administration — with conducting a study documenting the challenges that small AI businesses face. Some of the topics the study will cover include federal and non-federal funding opportunities, research and development tax credit access, the impacts of regulatory policy — and uncertainty — industry-wide and talent and recruitment challenges.
“America’s leadership in artificial intelligence will not only depend on large technology companies, but also on the next generation of innovators building breakthrough tools in small businesses and startups across the country,” Obernolte said. “As a software engineer and small business owner myself, I understand how difficult it can be for early-stage companies to navigate access to capital and talent, and to deal with regulatory uncertainty. This bipartisan legislation will help Congress better understand the barriers facing small AI innovators so we can ensure the United States remains the global leader in artificial intelligence.”
Other bills have sought to foster AI-related growth within smaller companies. The AI for Mainstreet Act, introduced in 2025 by Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., also seeks to leverage the SBA to support AI adoption across the small business sector.
Codifying the Pentagon’s AI use cases
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., introduced a bill on Tuesday that seeks to codify how AI can be used in Department of Defense operations. The AI Guardrails Act would prohibit AI use in areas like lethal autonomous weapons systems, espionage on Americans and launching or detonating nuclear weapons.
The bill’s introduction follows the ongoing fallout between Anthropic and the Pentagon, which began after the company refused to allow its AI systems to be deployed in autonomous weaponry and for surveillance.
In a one-pager on the bill, Slotkin says these guardrails are consistent with the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan, striking the balance between AI use that is innovative and advances the U.S. military while still being secure and reliable.
“Congress is behind in putting left and right limits on the use of AI, and the first place to start should be at the Pentagon,” said Slotkin. “My bill ensures a human is involved when deadly autonomous weapons are fired, AI cannot be used to spy on the American people, and that a human is on the switch to launch nuclear weapons. AI is going to shape the future of America’s national security, and we must win the AI race against China. But to do that, we need action that puts limits on AI in the Department of Defense. This is just common sense.”
More access to government data
Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., introduced legislation on Tuesday that would democratize government datasets to help train U.S. AI models.
The Artificial Intelligence Ready Data Act looks to take advantage of the federal government's troves of data to keep the U.S. at the forefront of innovation in AI.
“Federal data has long helped power scientific discovery and innovation,” said Kim in the press release. “As new technologies like AI become key tools for researchers in New Jersey and across our country, we need to ensure that access to this data is structured, reliable, and ready to be used safely. This legislation sets the clear standards needed so federal data can further support generations of scientific breakthroughs while maintaining transparency and public trust.”
The measure would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards and guidelines to improve and properly format government datasets. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy would then direct federal agencies to begin preparing their data assets for AI compatibility.
Another AI policy framework
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on Wednesday introduced the draft version of her pending legislative framework that would serve as one rulebook for AI that focuses on protecting “children, creators, conservatives, and communities” from AI-related harms.
The Republic Unifying Meritocratic Performance Advancing Machine Intelligence by Eliminating Regulatory Interstate Chaos Across American Industry Act — or the TRUMP AMERICA AI Act — proposes sweeping reforms to current tech policy to better protect the “4Cs.”
To protect children under the age of 17, the framework suggests Section 230 should be permanently sunset, and that the duty of care to prevent user harm be placed on AI developers. Protecting creators involves clarifying that an AI model’s unauthorized reproduction of certain content and copyrighted works does not fall under the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act. By excluding AI from accessing creator content legally, individuals and companies reproducing a voice, likeness or other relevant work will be held liable.
Blackburn’s framework mirrors the White House’s new National AI Policy Framework unveiled on Friday.
Leveraging AI for the grid
Puerto Rico’s Democratic Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández announced two bills on Tuesday designed to bolster the electric grid on the island and across the U.S. by using AI to modernize legacy systems and repel cyberattacks.
The AI Cyber Grid Protection Resilient Development Act would create a grant program within the Department of Homeland Security “to provide awards to National Laboratories and institutions of higher education to develop secure artificial intelligence (AI) cyber-physical testbeds to simulate grid-scale cyberattacks.”
The other proposal — the International AI Energy Grid Modernization Strategy Act — would direct the State Department “to develop a comprehensive international strategy to support the modernization of electric grids” using AI.
Reps. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., and Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., are co-sponsoring both measures with Hernández.
“Our power grid is essential to everything from hospitals to national security, yet it faces growing risks from cyberattacks and extreme weather,” Hernández said in a statement. “Artificial intelligence gives us new tools to defend these systems, strengthen its resilience, and modernize how our energy infrastructure operates, but it must be developed responsibly. My legislation ensures the United States leads in developing the technologies needed to protect our grid.”
Bringing AI to U.S. courtrooms
Bipartisan, bicameral legislation introduced on Thursday is looking to explore the use and efficacy of integrating AI speech-to-text and automatic speech recognition technologies into U.S. courtrooms.
The measure — introduced in the House by Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., and in the upper chamber by Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Peter Welch, D-Vt. — would create a 15-member task force of judicial experts to examine and address the legal and ethical issues surrounding the deployment of these tools in courtroom settings.
The proposal would also conduct “an assessment of any cybersecurity risks associated with using AI speech-to-text technology or automatic speech recognition technology.”
In a statement, Wicker noted that “federal courts have begun using this technology to improve their processes,” and said “this legislation would examine the legal, technical, and constitutional implications of AI in the U.S. judicial system.”
Establishing online privacy rights
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., reintroduced the Online Privacy Act on Thursday to create a federal framework for the retention, storage and use of Americans’ personal data. She has introduced the same proposal in each Congress since 2019.
The national privacy protections established by the measure would, in part, prohibit companies from using private digital communications for ad purposes, minimize the type of data that is collected and provide U.S. users with the ability to access and delete their collected data. The bill would also create a Digital Privacy Agency to ensure company compliance with the law, including by enforcing U.S. users’ privacy rights.
“Privacy is a fundamental right, but for too long, Congress has failed to set clear nationwide rules to protect Americans’ personal data. The Online Privacy Act gives Americans the power to view, correct, and delete their information,” Lofgren said in a statement. “This legislation shifts power back to the people and ensures federal law finally catches up to the realities of the 21st century."
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